A woman has been jailed after she admitted fraudulently claiming £25,000 in benefits.
Heather Mitchell was sentenced to seven months yesterday after a sheriff ruled there was no alternative than to impose a custodial sentence on the 59-year-old first offender.
Sheriff Christopher Shead said the value of cash involved was so high he felt the matter should have been dealt with on indictment and not through summary proceedings.
Mitchell previously plead guilty to the offence by letter and appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to be sentenced.
The court heard Mitchell had been claiming housing and council tax benefits as well as incapacity benefit over a four year period while she was employed as a cleaner.
In total Mitchell, of Flat C Girdleston Place, Aberdeen, falsely claimed £15,247.93 in incapacity benefit and an additional £9,752.07 in housing benefit and council tax benefit from September 2008 to July 2012.
Mitchell was working for two different firms over the period that she was claiming the cash.
She was working for Grampian Contract Services Ltd also known as Servicemaster, and for another firm called Spotless Office Cleaning Ltd.
Sentencing her Sheriff Shead said despite her lack of criminal record the court had to take matters like these extremely seriously.
He said he accepted that she had taken responsibility for her actions however felt there was no reasonable alternative than to impose a custodial sentence.
Sheriff Shead reduced her sentence from nine months to seven to reflect her early plea.